The Effects of Smoking On Youth

Abstract: Problem Definition:
Assuming 3 individuals have the same health, who would die first? A non-smoker, first-hand smoker, second-hand smoker?

Research:
Among young people, the short-term health consequences of smoking include respiratory and no respiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use.
Long-term health consequences of youth smoking are reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood.
Cigarette smokers have a lower level of lung function than those persons who have never smoked.
Smoking reduces the rate of lung growth.
On average, someone who smokes a pack or more of cigarettes each day lives 7 years less than someone who never smoked.
Smoking at an early age increases the risk of lung cancer.
For most smoking-related cancers, the risk rises as the individual continues to smoke.
Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often as teens who don't smoke, and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teens who don't smoke.
Teens who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine.
Smoking is associated with a host of other risky behaviors, such as fighting and engaging in unprotected sex.